Friday, April 15, 2011

The philosophy

Last year at Teen Extreme Youth Camp with our teenagers one of the speakers challenged the teenagers to read four chapters of the Bible daily.  Never one to back down to a challenge, Nick and I both decided to take on the challenge ourselves.  There have been days that I haven't succeeded in the challenge, but reading the Bible four chapters at a time has changed the way that I look at the Bible.  I now enjoy reading through the Bible much more, and I am learning much more as I read. When I read large portions of Scripture rather than smaller sections it is so much easier to see at as a whole rather than a small portion. 

In light of this, all of the study that I will be doing will be looking at large passages of Scripture rather than small portions.  Often the trouble arises when we focus on one or two verses rather than the whole context; false doctrines have arisen because individuals use a couple verses to create an entire doctrine.

Some of the frustration I have had with discipline topics is that often the philosophies are based on just a few verses.  From what I have studied "grace-based discipline" is based on verses such as: Eph 6:4  "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord."  While "authoritarian discipline" is bases on verses such as: Pro 22:15 " Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him."  One focuses on the attributes of God's grace and love; the other focuses on the attributes of God's justice and righteousness.  God is not just grace and love or just justice and righteous; He is both.  His grace and love fit hand and hand with His justice and righteousness.
As a parent if we are following the example of the Lord as we raise our children then we should be balancing grace and love with justice and righteousness.  Hence my desire to study the Lord as a parent rather than try to weed through a multitude of books.
The plan is to start in Genesis and work my way through the Bible.  If anyone has any suggestions comment and let me know.

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